| Craig Brown still has a chance to do another u-turn as he is due to be unveiled as Aberdeen manager on Monday. After today's showing at Tynecastle he may realise he may not live long enough to see the Dons win again. The 5-0 thrashing secured Hearts in third place just six points behind Celtic in second. It also put Aberdeen at the bottom of the league below Hamilton on goal difference and Accies now have a game in hand. Brown and his assistant Archie Knox were in th4 stand today and allowed Neils' Cooper and Simpson take charge of the game. God knows what they thought after nine minutes when the side they will take charge of were struggling at 2-0 after goals from David Templeton and Rudi Skacel. Stephen Elliott, Skacel and substitute Arvydas Novikovas were on target in the second half to secure a fifth straight win. For Aberdeen it was a 12th loss of the season and a seventh in succession. Hearts were playing for the first time since November 20 having twice been thwarted by the arctic weather before a thaw allowed today's game to go ahead. A trip to Motherwell was rearranged for next Tuesday, where Hearts manager Jim Jefferies was expecting to see Brown, but the duo met a few days earlier. Brown's first match in charge of Well was also at Tynecastle, losing 1-0 on December 30, 2009. Almost a year on, Brown and Knox were tasked with revitalising the Dons, who sacked Mark McGhee earlier this month. After Zander Diamond flashed a header wide, Hearts took a fifth-minute lead through Templeton. Skacel and Templeton combined on the left and Chris Maguire's clumsy challenge could have seen a penalty awarded. Templeton, though, with Elliott nearby, hooked the ball in despite the presence of two defenders on the line. Templeton was to the fore for the second, running down the left before playing a ball across the area for Skacel to side foot in. Skacel and Ian Black were both booked after a free-kick taken too quickly for referee Mike Tumilty's liking, the latter for dissent having pointed out it was he not his team-mate who had taken the kick before the whistle. Templeton then flashed a shot across goal narrowly wide as he continued to trouble Dons right back Jerel Ifil. Hearts continued to dominate, with the Dons poor and Brown was seen at the touchline consulting with Cooper and Simpson even before the half-time whistle, working out how to overturn the deficit. Two Hearts goals early in the second half but confirmed defeat for Brown and the Dons. After 51 minutes, Marius Zaliukas won the ball at the halfway line under the challenge of Paul Hartley, the ball was worked wide to the left and Palazuelos' cross was perfectly weighted for Elliott to stoop low and head in. Hearts cut through the desperate Dons defence once again seven minutes later to net a fourth. Adrian Mrowiec's cross from the right found Templeton, who might have scored himself but he squared the ball for Skacel to tuck in unopposed from a yard out. It was the Czech Republic midfielder's seventh of the season since beginning his second spell at Tynecastle in September. Jamie Langfield denied Skacel a third, racing off his line to save at the Hearts midfielder's feet after Kyle's flick on before Hearts netted a fifth. Novikovas scored seven minutes after coming on as a substitute for Templeton. The Lithuanian netted a fine individual goal, cutting in off the wing and firing a right-foot shot into the top corner after 77 minutes. Substitute Calum Elliot lofted the ball over as Hearts went close to a sixth but Jefferies' men had to settle for five. |